Emerald Lake Family Adventures

Last month our family, plus one of our family’s besties, had the opportunity to stay in a Forest Service cabin nestled in the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains of Custer National Forest near Nye, Montana for an artist in residence that I feel so incredibly honored to have been selected for. As one of three artists selected by the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Foundation, I applied with the proposal to document the story of our family immersed in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, and document I did. With over five days of shooting and 1000s of images, I have no shortage of stories.

The story that I love telling the most is the one of the kids and the hubs completely in their element. For everyone, wilderness, or the outdoors in general, means something different. For my kids it meant building sand castles and moats together on a sandy beach. For my husband it meant casting a line in any water that looked like it would support fish. And for me it meant documenting these moments while taking in every breathtaking landscape, planning our next hike, and while doing my best to be in the moment and present with my kids. While this story wasn’t in wilderness directly, it is well within sight, and the chain of lakes along West Rose Bud Road certainly provided a beautiful backdrop for our new favorite family beach. Biting flies and mosquitoes not included.

Can you see the flies? We ran to the truck to escape them, but it didn’t really help!

And we are NOT at all against a little end of the day snack bribery!

Originally an east coast girl, Bianca now resides in the beautiful state of Montana in the Paradise Valley, just north of Yellowstone National Park. She and her family spend most of their time together outside and enjoy camping, fishing, gardening, hiking, and floating the Yellowstone River in their drift boat. Bianca is a FINE ART LANDSCAPE and OUTDOOR FAMILY STORYTELLING PHOTOGRAPHER that specializes in documenting the lives of those families that love being outdoors just as much as her family does. It was through the BUSINESS OF TELLING STORIES WORKSHOP that she learned that IN-HOME FAMILY STORYTELLING was almost as fun as telling stories outside. Almost.